What I read in 2023!
Isn't it nice to have the whole year's worth of something in one handy list?
January
Medieval England: From Arthur to the Tudor Conquest, Jennifer Paxton ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hannibal, Livy ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster, Sam L Amirante, Danny Brodrick ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone ⭐️⭐️
Trouble With Lichen, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Reanimator's Heart, Kara Jorgensen 😠
The Miracle of Dunkirk, Walter Lord ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
Alone on the Ice, David Roberts ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
The Midwich Cucoos, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Hanging Tree, Ben Aaronovitch ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Polygamist's Daughter, Anna LeBaron, Leslie WIlson ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
Stowaway to Mars, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️
Confession of a Serial Killer, Katherine Ramsland ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
Sparta's First Attic War, Paul A Rahe ⭐️⭐️ NF
FantasticLand, Mike Bockoven ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Instructions for American Servicemen in Australia 1942, Special Service Division Services of Supply US Army ⭐️⭐️⭐️NF
Columbus Day, Craig Alanson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Blood in the Snow, Tom Henderson ⭐️⭐️NF
The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Last Days of Stalin, Joshua Rubenstein ⭐️⭐️⭐️NF
Sons of Cain, Peter Vronsky ⭐️⭐️NF
Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Web, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️
An Unnatural Vice, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
An Unsuitable Heir, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alexander the Great, Norman F Cantor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️NF
A Dark Night in Aurora, William H Reid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️NF
The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Snow Killings, Marney Rich Keenan ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
The Odyssey, Homer trans. Emily Wilson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Martian, Andy Weir ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
How Great Science Fiction Works, Gary K Wolfe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️NF
Lies Sleeping, Ben Aaronovitch ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
February
False Value, Ben Aaronovitch ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Amongst Our Weapons, Ben Aaronovitch ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Revelation Space, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Lancashire Witches, William Harrison Ainsworth ⭐️
Queen of Teeth, Hailey Piper ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Hacienda, Isabel Cañas ⭐️⭐️
Age of Myth, Michael J Sullivan ⭐️⭐️
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester ⭐️⭐️
All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Meddling Kids, Edgar Cantero ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Monsters We Defy, Leslye Penelope ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Man and the Crow, Rebecca Crunden (ss)⭐️
A Better Fate, DN Bryn (ss) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Artemis One-Zero-Five, CHristopher Henderson DNF
House of Suns, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
All Systems Red, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Artificial Condition, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rogue Protocol, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Exit Strategy, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
New Earth, Ben Bova ⭐️⭐️
Death Wave, Ben Bova ⭐️
Mouth of Mirrors, Maxwell I Gold (ss) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
March
On the Beach, Nevil Shute ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Star Nomad, Lindsay Buroker ⭐️
Burning Roses, SL Huang ⭐️⭐️
Trick or Treat, Richie Tankersley Cusick ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Unfinished Tales, JRR Tolkien ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pushing Ice, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The End of the World Anthology ⭐️⭐️
The Home of the Blizzard (nf), Sir Douglas Mawson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Night Stalker (nf), Philip Carlo ⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the Court of the Nameless Queen, Natalie Ironside ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Green Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Ultimate Evil (nf), Maury Terry ⭐️
The Hillside Stranglers (nf), Darcy O'Brien ⭐️⭐️
The Element of Fire, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chasm City, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
April
The Stolen Heir, Holly Black ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Kintu, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Kidnapped, Diane Hoh ⭐️⭐️
Overlord, David Wood & Alan Baxter ⭐️⭐️
Child of God, Cormac McCarthy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Walking to Aldebaran, Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Redemption’s Blade, Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️
At the Mountains of Madness, HP Lovecraft ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Initiation, Diane Hoh ⭐️⭐️
The Book of Queer Saints Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Expert System’s Brother, Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pluto’s Republic, David Roochnik (nf) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Twisted Ones, T Kingfisher ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Evil Roots, Killer Tales of Botanical Gothic Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Shadow Over Innsmouth, HP Lovecraft ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Whisperer in Darkness, HP Lovecraft ⭐️⭐️
Alien: Convenant Origins, Alan Dean Foster ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Coveant, Alan Dean Foster ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Wendigo, Algernon Blackwood ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien III, William Gibson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: The Cold Forge, Alex White ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Republic, Plato ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Prototype, Tim Waggoner ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Isolation, Keith RA DeCandido ⭐️⭐️
A Thief in the Night, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Dialogues, Plato ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Into Charybdis, Alex White ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Infiltrator, Weston Ochse ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Percent, Jon Elofson (ss) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Aliens: Bug Hunt Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Growing Things & Other Stories, Paul Tremblay ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Babel-17, Samuel R. Delany ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Lords of Uncreation, Adrian Tchaikovsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
May
The Day We Ate Grandad, CM Rosens ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: Out of the Shadows, Tim Lebbon ⭐️⭐️
Jaws, Peter Benchley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Room on the Sea, Andrē Aciman ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Alien: River of Pain, Christopher Golden ⭐️⭐️
Alien: Sea of Sorrows, James A Moore ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Gentleman From Peru, Andrē Aciman ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Century Rain, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hyperion, Dan Simmons ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dust, Elizabeth Bear ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
100 Fathoms Below, Steven L Kent & Nicholas Kaufmann ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Saturn’s Monsters, Thomas K Carpenter ⭐️
Address Unknown, Kressmann Taylor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Murder by Other Means, John Scalzi ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Ethics of Aristotle, Joseph Koterski ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Neil Gaiman at the end of the Universe, Arvind Ethan David ⭐️⭐️
Bag of Bones, Stephen King ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bewilderness, Part One: Threshold, Jonathan Maberry ⭐️
Ten Low, Stark Holborn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Benny Rose, the Cannibal King, Hailey Piper ⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Dark Vanessa, Kate Elizabeth Russell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester ⭐️
Three Hearts and Three Lions, Poul Anderson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Almost Human(nf), Lee Berger & John Hawks ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Paladin’s Grace, T Kingfisher ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Killing the Bismarck(nf), Iain Ballantyne ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ancient Mesopotamia(nf), Amanda H Podany ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Art of War(nf), Andrew R Wilson ⭐️⭐️
The White People, Arthur Machen ⭐️
June
Witch King, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Broken Sword, Poul Anderson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Early Middle Ages (nf), Philip Daileader ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The History of Ancient Egypt (nf), Bob Brier ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Banewreaker, Jacqueline Carey ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Godslayer, Jacqueline Carey ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chernobyl 01:23:40 (nf), Andrew Leatherbarrow ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Stress and Your Body (nf), Robert Sapolsky ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ice Ghosts (nf), Paul Watson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Illiad, Homer, trans. Edward Earl of Derby ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Th Hunt & the Haunting, Victoria Audley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Our Shadows Have Claws Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Writing Creative Nonfiction (nf), Tilar JJ Mazzeo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Brain Wave, Poul Anderson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
July
Travel by Bullet, John Scalzi ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Redemption Ark, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Labrys(ss), Victoria Audley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Grown Gown(ss), Derek Des Anges ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Hellbound Heart, Clive Barker ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Orca, Arthur Herzog III ⭐️
The Gallows Pole, Benjamin Myers ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Chemist, Stephanie Meyer ⭐️
Icehenge, Kim Stanley Robinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Band Sinister, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Now She Is Witch, Kirsty Logan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Slow Bullets, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Inside the Mind of BTK(nf), Johnny Dodd & John Douglas ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Antarctica, Kim Stanley Robinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
August
The Henchmen of Zenda, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Morning Star, Peter Atkins ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Subsidence (ss), Steve Rasnic Tem ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Man in the High Tower, Philip K Dick ⭐️⭐️⭐️
What the Dead Know (ss), Nghi Vo ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Maze Runner, James Dashner ⭐️
Unfit to Print, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chill, Elizabeth Bear ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bryony and Roses, T Kingfisher ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Confessor (ss), Elizabeth Bear ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Grail, Elizabeth Bear ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Babylon (nf), Paul Kriwaczek ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Unquiet, E Saxey DNF
The Ritual of the Labyrinth (ss), Esmée de Heer ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Terminal World, ALastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Essays of Flesh and Bone (ss), Victoria Audley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Book Eaters, Sunyi Dean ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Future of Work: Compulsory (ss), Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Lady or the Tiger (ss), Frank Stockton ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Too Like the Lightning, Ada Palmer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Falling Free, Lois McMaster Bujold ⭐️⭐️
Dreamsnake, Vonda N McIntyre ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The First Fossil Hunters (nf), Adrienne Mayor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shards of Honor, Lois McMaster Bujold ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Red Land, Black Land (nf), Barbara Mertz ⭐️⭐️⭐️
On Planetary Palliative Care (ss), Thomas Ha ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Nova, Samuel R Delany ⭐️⭐️⭐️
September
Time to Orbit: Unknown, Derin Edala ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️*
The Invincible, Stanislaw Lem ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Prefect, Alastair Reynolds ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Myrtha (ss), Victoria Audley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Archaeology: An Introduction to the World’s Greatest Sites (nf), Eric H Cline ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Catching Teller Crow, Amberlin Kwaymullina & Ezekiel Kwaymullina ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Old Man’s War, John Scalzi ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Don’t Hang Up, Benjamin Stevenson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Superluminal, Vonda N McIntyre ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
World War Z, Max Brooks ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Flight of the Fantail, Steph Matuku ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cyteen, CJ Cherryh ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Regenesis, CJ Cherryh ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mindfulness for Stress Management (nf), Dr Robert Schacter ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Orange Eats Creeps, Grace Krilanovich ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Kushiel’s Dart, Jacqueline Carey ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Aye, and Gomorrah (ss), Samuel R. Delany ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Carnage (nf), Mark Dapin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Blue Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Unknown, Jordan L Hawk ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chocky, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sword of Empire: Praetorian, Richard Foreman ❌
Revival, Stephen King ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Apollo Murders, Chris Hadfield ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
*Time to Orbit: Unknown is hosted online [HERE] and is currently still updating twice a week
October
Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, Hailey Piper ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ghost Bird, Lisa Fuller ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Forest of Stolen Girls, June Hur ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Liar’s Dice, Jeannie Lin ⭐️
Straya, Anthony O'Connor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Toxic, Dan Kaszeta (nf) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Illuminae, Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Penhallow, Georgette Heyer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Myth of the Self Made Man, Ruben Reyes Jr (ss) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Call, Christian White & Summer De Roche ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Death of the Necromancer, Martha Wells ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cretins, Thomas Ha (ss) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Kill Your Brother, Jack Heath ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley (nf) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Valley of Terror, Zhou Haohui, tr. Bonnie Huie ⭐️⭐️
The Curse of the Burdens, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️
Amazons, Adrienne Mayor (nf) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Kraken Wakes, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dead Mountain, Donnie Eichar (nf) ⭐️⭐️
Family Business, Jonathan Sims ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the House of Aryaman A Lonely Signal Burns, Elizabeth Bear ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Blessing of Unicorns, Elizabeth Bear ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
METAtropolis Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plan for Chaos, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Fatal Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, Emma Southon (nf) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Outward Urge, John Wyndham ⭐️⭐️
King Solomon’s Mines, H. Rider Haggard DNF
The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle tr. David Ross (nf) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
November
The Jewel of Seven Stars, Bram Stoker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Terror, Dan Simmons ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hannibal: The Military Genius who Almost Conquered Rome, Eve MacDonald ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ nf
Luna, Ian McDonald ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hoka! Hoka! Hoka!, Poul Anderson & Gordon R Dickson ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dracula, Bram Stoker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cicero: The Life & Times of Rome's Greatest Politician, Anthony Everitt ⭐️⭐️⭐️nf
The Worst Journey in the World, Apsley Cherry-Garrard ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️nf
METAtropolis: Cascadia Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Haunting of Willow Creek, Sara Crocoll Smith ⭐️
Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne ⭐️⭐️
METAtropolis: Green Space Anthology ⭐️⭐️⭐️
December
Carrion Comfort, Dan Simmons ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wanted, A Gentleman, KJ Charles ⭐️⭐️
Interview With the Vampire, Anne Rice ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Henry VIII: King & Court, Alison Weir ⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
Alexander the Great & the Macedonian Empire, Kenneth W Harl⭐️⭐️⭐️ NF
The Isles of the Gods, Amie Kaufman ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Sandman, Neil Gaiman & Dirk Maggs DNF
Phosphorescence, Julia Baird ⭐️⭐️⭐️NF
And so the grand total for 2023 is....
267!
Of course, there's a couple of DNFs in there which inflate this number somewhat, but I am absolutely not going to pick through and count them out. Plus, a DNF only gets included on the list if I've gotten through a significant portion of the book. If it's a page one no-no, it's not even worth mentioning.
I made the decision at the start of this year, to try out more books I'd never heard of before. I really like trawling through the library app, or through audible's free archives and finding stuff that I'd probably never normally have discovered. Also, revisiting books that I read a long time ago and seeing if they resemble my memories of them.
Overall, I think this was a very satisfying year of reading, and I hope that I enjoy 2024's reads just as much!
nf= non fiction
ss= short story
Stars awarded at my whim.
2 notes
·
View notes